Sara's Writing Wonders

Friday, May 20, 2016

The Scorch TrialsI'm getting to an intense part of my book right now. I like how smoothly the plot goes, it's not too fast so you can't keep up, but it's not too slow that it's grueling to read. I would recommend this book to everyone who enjoyed the first book, since it gives a lot more action and mystery to the Maze Runner series. We still don't know much about Aris, one of the new characters, in the book so far, so I don't know whether to trust him or suspect him. I am still super curious to know what happened to Teresa, since she disappeared in the beginning of the book. Overall, I like the part of the book I am at right now, and I can't wait to read more.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Since I finished my book on Leonardo Da Vinci last week, I had to choose a new one for this week, so I chose The Scorch Trials, which is a part of the Maze Runner series. Originally, I had a few KBAR's from this book earlier into the year, but I never finished reading since I moved on to reading another book. So now I am going to continue to read it. First off, I noticed that this book's transitions are very fluid and easy to read, and it doesn't start off at a fast pace. The pacing is just perfect, and along with the good transitions, the descriptiveness and the dialogue are very well thought out and together they sound smooth. One other thing that I like about this book is how diverse the characters are. In some stories, the characters are almost always alike, whereas this book has characters of different backgrounds with unique personalities that flow well with the situation. For example, one character is completely brave and will do almost anything, while another is more reserved and meek, not wanting to do anything out of their comfort zone.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Fantastic Tales, Strange Animals, Riddles, Jests, and Prophecies of Leonardo Da Vinci
After finishing reading this book, I feel like I've learned enough about Leonardo Da Vinci to determine that he was a hardworking and intelligent person who was skilled and gifted in many fields, and should have more recognition for things other than his paintings. I feel like I got more out of the book after reading some of his riddles and other pieces that he's worked on. One of my favorite things from this story is one of his prophecies, which goes, "Bodies without souls shall teach us how to die well," in this case, he is referring to books. I find quotes like these well-thought out and these help us get a view into what he was like in the past. All in all, I would like to get to learn more about Leonardo Da Vinci after discovering all of these new things about him, since he is a unique individual who had great aspirations and a love for all things art.

One of the things that I like most about this book is how it's organized. Instead of having most of his life compacted into a few chapters, the book talks about his early life, work style and other important things he's accomplished within the first chapter, which is very long and very informative. While the part about his life is around 50 pages, the rest of the book is about things that he's written or discovered. I think this layout helps me better understand Leonardo Da Vinci, since I get to know more about who he was first, then I get to learn about his view points on things. Most books aren't written like this, and I think it's more efficient rather than having all types of different pieces of information spread around the book, which can be hard to keep track of.

Monday, April 25, 2016

I think that forces beyond our control shape a person's life more. For example, you can't control what other people do, you can't control the weather, and you can't control a person's life. There will always be things that restrict you from doing certain things, whether it's the law, those with more authority over you or what's happening to earth. While human agency can shape people's lives more than others, there's only so much you can do before a force beyond your control puts what you're doing to a stop.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Even though I haven't finished reading this book, I think that some people would really like it. Not only does it have a well written and detailed story about his life and his jobs, it also talks about some things that he wrote, such as fables, poems, riddles, tales and his view points on things. I think that those who like art, inventing and writing would like to read this book, since it talks about things that usually aren't included in biographies. Some things that surprised me about Leonardo Da Vinci was how he worked. He had a unique schedule and way of doing things when he painted. For example, the book said that he would paint from sunrise to sundown, without taking any breaks, and that he would disappear for a few days, come back with inspiration, and then leave when he wanted to. Thanks to reading some parts about how his life was and how he rose to become good at a lot of subjects, I feel like I've learned and understood a little more about Leonardo Da Vinci.

Before reading this book, I did not know much about Leonardo Da Vinci, besides the fact that he painted the famous Mona Lisa, and the Last Supper. Now that I have read some of this book, I've found out that he was not only a painter, but a sculptor, musician, caricaturist, architect, cartographer, astronomer, stage designer, engineer, naturalist, and philosopher. Also, he was an inventor, and invented some important things that are still used today, such as toilet seats, tanks, submarines, parachutes, projectors, self-closing doors and chimneys. I find this really interesting because he's mostly just known for his paintings, while these other jobs and hobbies were pushed away and not talked about very much. In my opinion, I think Leonardo Da Vinci's other professions and inventions should be recognized a little more in modern day, since without some of the things he's invented, life today would be very different. If Leonardo Da Vinci was still alive, I think he would be very successful and well-known, since he is talented in many fields.